FAA Grounds Boeing 787s Over Battery Trouble

Move comes after spate of problems overseas with Dreamliner

(Newser)
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Federal officials say they are grounding Boeing's 787 Dreamliners until the risk of possible battery fires is addressed. The FAA said today it will issue an emergency safety order requiring airlines to temporarily cease operating the 787, Boeing's newest and most technologically advanced plane. The agency said it will work with Boeing and US air carriers to develop a plan allowing 787s to "resume operations as quickly and safely as possible."

United Airlines is the only US carrier with 787s. It has six. Only days ago, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood declared the plane safe. But after an emergency landing in Japan early today, two Japanese airlines voluntarily grounded their 787s. That move followed a series of earlier mishaps.

An All Nippon Airways flight sits at Takamatsu airport in Takamatsu, Japan, after it made an emergency landing. A cockpit message showed battery problems.
(AP Photo/Kyodo News)

They are Lithium batteries that are overheating and burning up. They are in a box and stowed in the front and rear of the fuselage. The ones in front have burnt up and the ones in the rear have too. How can Boeing say there is no problem. Get a bigger battery. Re-wire something. I'm sure it's fixable, but at least admit there is a problem and that you are resolving it.

finkster

Jan 16, 2013 10:39 PM CST

I worked for McDonnell Douglas as a structural mechanic for the C-17 Project for the U.S.Air Force We had to train for 3 months, 5 days a week, 8 hours a day in a classroom environment working on materials and learning how to drill holes perfectly besides bolting and welding Cold and hot bolt fixing to the skin of materials for practice was just one of the many tough requirements We started out with over 60 of us and ended up with only 20 in the class at graduation The motto was " there is no such thing as oops 30 thousand feet in the air " You did it right the first time or you didn't do it at all We had to learn blue print reading and the difference between each part We watched as the first prototype took off on our air strip towards Edwards Air Force base for testing It was the most exciting thing to watch something you worked on fly with two fighter escort jets accompanying it. When we first went to the real area to work on these magnificent planes, it was both frightening and exciting After two years Boeing took over and we were laid off because of union seniority since they were bringing in personnel from the MD I0 and II commercial planes The Air Force threatened to cancel the project and give it to Lockeed instead, until Boeing promised to make these commercial mechanics go through the same 3 month training we did I still have pride watching those planes in movies and other stories, even here on Newser And they still build them in Long Beach, California..... .

Luna_Park

Jan 16, 2013 8:12 PM CST

So much for American technology. Another sign of the decline of the American Empire. The "Dream" is over. Fly Airbus!

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